CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians played the Kansas City Royals in the second of a four-game series Friday. Here is a capsule look from Plain Dealer reporter Dennis Manoloff:

Game: 103.

Opponent: Royals.

Location: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

Time of day: Night.

Time elapsed: 3 hours, 2 minutes.

Attendance: 33,460.

Result: Royals 6, Indians 4.

Records: Royals 52-50, Indians 51-52.

Scoreboard watch: No point.

When the Indians play as they have the past six games, the AL Central and second wild card are mirages. It doesn't mean the Indians are cooked; it simply means they need to attend to the micro before they can focus again on the macro.

Slumping: The Indians are 1-5 since winning the first three of a four-game series in Detroit. After dropping the finale to the Tigers, they lost two of three in Minnesota and the first two in Kansas City. In those losses, they have been outscored, 20-10.

Not OK at The K: The Indians are 0-4 at Kauffman Stadium. (They trail the season series, 6-5.)

Rare K.C. muscle: The Royals hit three homers that accounted for four runs. Friday marked just the second time that the Royals have gone deep thrice -- both coming against the Tribe.

The Royals rank last in the majors with 60 homers and have given up 90. But somehow they have managed to out-homer Cleveland, 12-8, in their meetings.

Tomlin's start fell in that gray area between bad and good. He is a fierce competitor who hates to lose, but doesn't quite have the stuff to match. In 11 starts since May 26, merely two have ended with six-plus innings and three or fewer earned runs.

Tomlin gave up homers to the first two batters of the second inning. Righty Salvador Perez socked a 1-1 fastball (89 mph) deep to left. The pitch was supposed to be inside but stayed up and over the plate. Lefty Mike Moustakas followed by sending a 2-0 fastball (90) deep to right. The pitch was supposed to be away.

The Royals led, 2-0.

At that point, Moustakas was 12-for-35 (.343) with six homers and 12 RBI against the Indians; 41-for-227 (.181) with seven homers and 28 RBI against the rest of MLB. (Stat brought to you by Jordan Bastian, Indians beat writer for MLB.com)

In 86 2/3 innings this season, Tomlin has given up 16 homers and walked 10. As those numbers indicate, he needs to figure out how to be effectively wild.

Tomlin ran into tough luck in the fourth. He made a good pitch to leadoff batter Alex Gordon, who fought it off for a bloop single to left. The home run boys, Perez and Moustakas, popped out and struck out, respectively.

Ageless lefty Raul Ibanez stepped in. Tomlin attempted to get far inside with an 0-1 fastball (89), but Ibanez pulled in the hands well enough to send it into the right-field corner. By the time David Murphy played the hockey-rink-style carom and threw to second baseman Jason Kipnis, Gordon was scoring and Ibanez headed to third. Kipnis had a shot at Ibanez, but his throw eluded Lonnie Chisenhall and skipped out of play when no Indian was close enough to back it up. Ibanez trotted home to give the Royals a 4-1 lead.

For the second straight game, the Royals scored on what Northeast Ohio Media Group Indians writer Zack Meisel referred to as a "Little League HR.'' The first run of Kansas City's 2-1 victory in 14 innings Thursday came when Moustakas doubled and scored in the eighth on left fielder Ryan Raburn's spiked throw, the ball coming to rest in left field.

Don't blame El Oso: Indians first baseman Carlos Santana saved his club from being handled by Royals righty Yordano Ventura. Santana homered twice against the hard-throwing Ventura and finished 2-for-3 with one walk, three RBI and two runs.

Santana blasted a 2-1 fastball (97) to right to pull the Tribe within 2-1 in the fourth. He ripped a 2-2 fastball (100) to right for a two-run shot to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the sixth.

Santana leads the Tribe with 17 homers.

Ventura gave up an unearned run in the seventh that tied the score, 4-4. He finished with six hits allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts in 6 2/3. He rebounded from a rough start in Boston to post his third quality start against the Indians in three outings.

Butler did, indeed, do it: Pinch-hitter Billy Butler's two-out, two-run homer off righty John Axford in the eighth gave Kansas City the 6-4 lead. Butler crushed a 1-0 fastball (94) an estimated 451 feet to left for his fourth homer.

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